Our understanding of the history of

Our understanding of the history of the formal academic research into
the nature of leadership is that it can be seen to have developed
through 5 main stages: the ‘trait’ or ‘Great Man’ approach; the
‘behavioural’ approach, out of which the concept of managerial and
later leadership competencies emerged; the ‘situation’ or ‘contingency’
approach; the ‘new paradigm’ approach, with its focus on ‘distant’
transformational, often ‘heroic’ leadership; and finally, the emergence
of ‘nearby’ transformational or ‘engaging; leadership, and the
associated concept of ‘distributed’ leadership.
7. It was suggested that it is valuable to distinguish two aspects of
leadership – ‘what’ a leader does, and ‘how’ they do it.
The first of these, as exemplified by the NHS ‘Leadership Qualities
Framework’, the police ‘Integrated Competency Framework’, and the
fire and rescue service ‘Personal Qualities and Attributes’, can be seen
to reflect leadership competency, which may be defined as follows:
A competent leader is someone who enables the development
of an organisation in a way that is goal directed, and geared to
developing processes and systems. This enables staff at all
levels to plan effectively and efficiently, in order to achieve
agreed goals.
High levels of competency can lead to a degree of consistency
within an organisation or department, and thereby enable staff to
make day-to-day decisions and short-term predictions, with a
measure of confidence.
Leadership competencies, which are often largely closed-ended
in nature, are necessary in order that staff can undertake both
strategic and day-to-day planning, and in this way help to turn
the vision of an organisation, department or team into a reality.
The second of these may be defined in the following way:
A transformational or engaging leader is someone who
encourages and enables the development of an organisation
that is characterised by a culture based on integrity, openness
and transparency, and a genuine valuing of others.
This shows itself in concern for the development and well-being
of others, in the ability to unite different groups of stakeholders
in articulating a joint vision, and in delegation of a kind that
enables and develops potential, coupled with the
encouragement of questioning and of thinking which is critical as
well as strategic.
Engaging leadership is essentially open-ended in nature,
enabling organisations not only to cope with change, but also to
be proactive in shaping their future. At all times, ‘nearby’
transformational behaviour is guided by ethical principles.